Quick Take
- Jawfish are small marine fish with large heads and big mouths.
- These fish often act defensively while protecting their burrows.
- Jawfish poke their heads out of their burrows to monitor their surroundings, defend themselves, and inspect what’s going on in their territory.
If a giant hand were to suddenly appear in front of you with some sort of object, how would you react? This is the reality for the jawfish in this Instagram post by @pubity. The video shows a human offering a seashell-like gift to a fish, who continuously rejects it. This funny post raises questions about jawfish behavior, like whether they normally reject gifts like this. Read here to learn more about the jawfish and why it’s so defensive.
Jawfish are naturally territorial fish, specifically over their burrows.
©Leonardo Gonzalez/Shutterstock.com
Defensive Jawfish
Jawfish are small marine fish that inhabit sandy areas in warm oceans globally. They have large heads and mouths, part of why they earned the name jawfish. Part of the reason they are so defensive is due to their natural lifestyle. Jawfish maintain burrows that they dig with their mouths. They are almost always at these burrows, constantly caring for and maintaining them. They use the burrows to hide from threats like predators. As seen in the video, jawfish poke their heads out to monitor their surroundings and defend themselves and their little shelters. Humans are just one of the creatures that jawfish will behave defensively toward.
In the video, the human is trying to give the jawfish a gift. However, the jawfish isn’t accepting of said gift; in fact, it is actively trying to deter the offering. Unlike birds or mammals who may gift things to each other, jawfish don’t engage in a similar behavior. Because of this, what was meant to be a present may seem more like a threat, especially when coming from a giant human hand. However, because the jawfish is not hiding in the video, it most likely didn’t sense any true danger from the human. It might have even been a bit curious about the human hand. Though jawfish are relatively solitary fish, they are also naturally curious about their environments. They remain connected to their burrows, while venturing out to observe and learn from the environment around them. For example, they may watch other fish swim by. However, if a passerby gets too close to these feisty fish, they will respond defensively.
